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The Polish hussars (/ h ə ˈ z ɑːr s /; Polish: husaria), [a] alternatively known as the winged hussars, were a heavy cavalry formation active in Poland and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1503 to 1702. Their epithet is derived from large rear wings, which were intended to demoralize the enemy during a charge.
The song "Winged Hussars", from Sabaton's 2016 album The Last Stand is about the battle, specifically centred around the Polish cavalry charge on 12 September.
Archduke Stephen of Austria, Palatine of Hungary, in 19th-century Hungarian general's hussar style gala uniform; [1] with characteristic tight dolman jacket, loose-hanging pelisse over-jacket, and busby. A hussar [a] was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title ...
Polish Winged Hussar, wings visible. Painting by Aleksander Orłowski. 1503 saw the formation of a first hussar unit in Poland. Being far more manoeuvrable than the heavily armoured lancers previously employed, the hussars proved vital to the Polish victories at Orsza (1514) and Obertyn (1531).
The winged hussars developed in the second half of the 16th century and were inspired by very similar Hungarian armoured hussars, a lance-wielding and armoured offshoot of the more typical, unarmoured, light cavalry hussars (which originated in Serbia and Hungary and eventually appeared in Poland as well by the early 16th century).
The battle was decided in 20 minutes by a devastating charge of Polish-Lithuanian cavalry, including the Winged Hussars. [7] The battle ended in a decisive victory of the Polish-Lithuanian forces, and is remembered as one of the greatest triumphs of Commonwealth cavalry.
The Polish forces sent to stop them consisted of seven banners of hussars and pancerni from the Trenches of the Holy Trinity (Okopy Świętej Trójcy) and The Redoubt of Virgin Mary (Szaniec Panny Marii) strongholds, approximately 400 men in total; [5] historian Mirosław Nagielski estimates 100 hussars and 300 pancerni. [2]
[12] [13] [15] National units included the Winged hussars and lighter Polish pancerni and Lithuanian petyhorcy with some light cavalry units, with infantry being the distant second in reputation; whereas the foreign units centered around infantry and artillery formations, with dragoons gaining prominence from the 1620s, and reiter cavalry soon ...